ORONO — When the Class B girls’ swimming championship was over, and Cape Elizabeth was toweling off after its victory dip, Coach Ben Raymond could be truthful. When he told the Capers prior to the meet that Camden Hills projected to a 40-point victory, he was fibbing.
“I only told them we were down by 40, but it was probably a little bigger than that,” Raymond said.
While the Windjammers won the meet on paper, Cape Elizabeth prevailed in the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool on Tuesday afternoon. The Capers won the day’s first event, the 200-yard medley relay, and never trailed, taking 372 points and their third straight title. Camden Hills, back in Class B this season after winning back-t0-back Class A crowns, was second with 359 points. Mt. Desert Island was third (282) and Ellsworth fourth (206).
The Cape Elizabeth girls joined the boys’ team with their three-peat. The Cape boys won the Class B title with a dominant effort Monday.
The Capers piled up points throughout the first portion of the meet. Cookie Mahoney won the 200 freestyle (1 minute, 55.53 seconds), while teammate Audrey Alberts was second. Lucy Shaw and Hope Taylor went 2-3 in the 200 individual medley. Freshman Dove Brown, seeded sixth in the 50 freestyle, jumped up to second. In the 100 butterfly, Shaw, Alberts and Brown went 2-3-4, piling up 48 points. After six events, the Capers held a 197-158 lead over MDI and a 63-point cushion over Camden Hills.
Mahoney won the 100 freestyle in 53.14, a second ahead of her twin sister, Hadley. For Cookie Mahoney, who was chosen as Performer of the Meet, finishing 1-2 with her sister was the highlight of the day.
“We’ve been training for that event all year, and she’s not a club swimmer,” she said. “I just push her in and out of the water. To go 1-2 with my twin senior year is spectacular.”
Taylor earned the Capers’ other individual win, taking the 500 freestyle in 5:15.02. She said her focus throughout the longest race was to block out the pain.
“I was just trying to focus on keeping my pace and doing my best,” Taylor said.
After Cape won the 200 freestyle relay – the ninth of 12 events – Raymond hoped his team had at least a 50-point lead to counter the Windjammers’ strength in the 100 backstroke and 100 breast stroke. As it turned out, Cape’s lead was 53 points. Cookie Mahoney said with Camden Hills an unknown after competing the last two seasons in Class A, the Capers were nervous throughout the meet. Seeing the Cape boys win the title on Monday helped, as did maintaining the lead throughout the meet.
“The girls, they compete really well. We didn’t need to focus on times today, but more on how you’re going to place, catching somebody else next to you, and just keeping the energy up,” Raymond said. “I was hoping to be up by 50 after the 200 free relay, knowing we weren’t sitting all that well for scoring in the (backstroke) and the (breast stroke). But our kids in the back in the breast scored some big points there to help with that cushion.”
Camden Hills collected 71 points in the backstroke and breast stroke to Cape’s 25 in the two events. It was enough to trim Cape’s lead to 332-325, but with its third relay victory of the day in the 400 freestyle, the Capers clinched.
“Everybody we entered in the meet scored points today. That’s huge. That’s a big deal,” Raymond said.
Greely’s Audrey Cohen completed her dominant career with wins in the 200 IM (2:08.37) and 100 breast stroke (1:04.06). Cohen, who plans to swim at Penn State, completed her career undefeated.
“I knew if I won (the 100 breast stroke), I’d be undefeated for my high school career in individual events. It wasn’t my fastest time, it wasn’t my record or anything, but it meant a lot more to me,” Cohen said.
Ellsworth’s Ella Montgomery took a pair of first-place finishes, in the 100 butterfly (57.60) and 100 backstroke (58.21).
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